Online games refer to games which can be played by connecting computers to external systems via telephone or cables, and have grown in considerable fields and in various genres, such as Role-Playing Games (RPGs), Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), arcade games and simulation, so that the market size thereof and the number of game users have become huge.
Based on such growth in online games, game providers have distributed online games to users for the most part using two methods.
The first is an offline method in which compressed game data and an installation file that unpacks the compressed game data are packaged with each other, after which they are provided on a specific storage medium (for example, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)). When a game is installed using the above-described method, a person who wants to enjoy the game should perform a separate installation process on his/her PC that is going to be used.
In greater detail, the storage medium for recording a game program includes a program for the game, a program which enables playing on a network, the product key or serial number (hereinafter, referred to as the CD Key) of the storage medium, and a CD key determination program which enables authenticity to be determined. Users should execute an installation file stored on the storage medium, write the CD Key, determine whether the value of the CD key is authentic using the CD Key determination program, and then install the corresponding program.
The second is an online method in which a game, packaged in the same manner as in the offline method is requested from a server in not an offline but in an online manner, is downloaded and then installed, or alternatively in which the corresponding file is fetched from the server and installed while an installation file is executed.
Currently, the offline method is typically used.
However, with the generalization of computing environments in which account authority is set, the compensation of data stored on a storage medium is not realized depending on account authority.
In greater detail, it has been very difficult to install data stored on the storage medium on a PC that a user desires to play the game on or to play the game while supporting the data from the latest version because of account authority.
That is, the above-described prior art has the following problems:
There is the problem of complexity because, when users want to play the online game on a PC, the users should perform a separate game installation process before playing the game. Online game providers provide one or more patches in order to improve the instability of the program, which is detected when a game service process is running, and in order to change and add functions. The patches are not provided once but are provided to users whenever one or more program errors are corrected or the functions of the game are changed or added to. Therefore, there is the problem of complexity because the users should frequently collect patches at a time and install the patches over a long period of time, and then play the game.
Further, in the prior art, with the current generalization of computing environments in which account authority is set up, games cannot be run on a PC where the user does not have account authority unless account policies are not modified, so that there is the problem of inevitably bringing about sensitive matters, such as security issues.